Church and Family History Research Assistance
for Hancock County, Indiana
CHURCHES:
MT. GILEAD (1827)
The Mt. Gilead Baptist church was organized on August 19, 1827, at the home of Samuel Jackson, with the Baptist ministers and other members of the faith from Blue River township and from the Bethel church present. The congregation was first known as Brandywine church and retained that name until about the middle of August, 1838, when the members changed the name to Mt. Gilead. Among the charter members were Samuel Jackson and wife, Benjamin Spillman and wife, and James Reeves and wife.Services were held in the church until about 1909-10. The church building is still standing and is located on the west side of the angling road in the southwest corner of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 13, township 16, range 6. (Taken from a county history.)
SHILOH (GREENFIELD)(1841)
Shiloh Church, at Greenfield, was organized at the home of Solomon Tyner, nearly eight miles south of Greenfield, on the fourth Saturday in June, 1841. The charter members were Solomon Tyner, John H. Caldwell, John M. Duncan, Jemima Tyner, Nancy Duncan Caroline Randall and Rosanna Caldwell, who selected as help in this organization a council composed of the following: from Blue River church, Jacob Parkhurst, Samuel Ferguson, John Osborn, T. Porter and H. Bowen; Mt. Gilead church, J. Reeves and E. Brizendine; Mt. Carmel church, Morgan McQuary and George Pricket; Sugar Creek church, G. Hunter and J. Braman; Concord church, Stephen Harlan and Cicero Wilkinson.The charter members selected Solomon Tyner for their moderator, who presented to their council for examination their constitution and articles of faith. After a careful examination, Morgan McQuary, the moderator for the council, gave the right hand of fellowshipo to the moderator of the brethren wishing to be constituted, and, in behalf of the council pronounced them a Gospel church to be known by the name of Shiloh.
At the first meeting after organization the membership was increased by the following: Nicholas Ridlin, Hannah Ridlin, Phebe New, Nancy Porter, Richard Hackleman, Peter M. Newhouse and Margaret Newhouse. The church selected Morgan McQuary for its first pastor, Richard Hackleman, first clerk, and J. H. Caldwell and Nicholas Ridlin, first deacons. In July, 1841, the church attached herself to the Lebanon association.
In 1853 the question of ordaining or not ordaining deacons was taken up and decided to vote to ordain.In January, 1854, the church appointed brethren J. H. Caldwell, James Tyner and Richard Hackleman, trustees, to receive deed for ground on which to build a church. On February 25, 1854, on motion, the church agreed to build a frame meeting house, forty by fifty feet. The trustees were to learn the probable cost and report a next meeting. The committee made a favorable report and a new frame church was erected at a cost of eight hundred dollars. It stands at the southeast corner of section 26, township 15, range 7.In February, 1876, the act of the church of 1841, requiring articles of faith to be read at each meeting, was repealed, the acts to be read whenever called for.In November, 1891, the church voted to hold a business meeting in Greenfield on the first Saturday of each month, and to hold services on Sunday following. It was also decided, however, to still hold services on the fourth Sunday at the former place of worship in Blue River township.In November, 1895, the church decided by vote to build a house on a lot on North street in Greenfield for a place of worship. James Tyner, D. H. Goble and Isaac Bennett were elected trustees to do all lawful business for the church; the total cost of the house and lot was three thousand nine hundred and thirty-two dollars and fifty-nine cents.In February, 1904, the frame building in the country where this church used to meet was sold to the congregation of the Disciples of Christ, who now worship there, and whose history follows. In July, 1904, the entire debt of the new building in Greenfield was paid.
The following men have served the church since its organization: Trustees, James Tyner, John Tyner, D. H. Goble, W. T. Allen, George Allen, J. S. Thomas and Isaac Bennett. Pastors, Morgan McQuary, 1841; William Baker, 1852; George Zion and Elias Poston, 1853; Wilson Thompson, 1854; Jesse G. Jackson, 1857; David Candell and George Weaver, 1864; George Weaver, 1867; George Weaver and A. B. Nay, 1869; A. B. Nay and Harvey Wright, 1871; John T. Weaver and W. N. Tharp, 1885; R. W. Thompson and W. N. Tharp, 1886; R. W. Thompson, 1889. Church clerks of records, Richard Hackleman, 1841; J. F. Watts, 1871; W. N. Tharp, 1875; D. H. Goble, 1881; W. M. Coffield, 1885. Deacons, J. H. Caldwell, Nicholas Ridlin, James Tyner, Barnabas Coffield, D. H. Goble, Henry Mannon, J. N. Goble and W. P. Denny. Singing clerks, James Tyner, 1852; W. M. Coffield, 1882.
CONCORD (1838)
The Concord Baptist church is located at the northwest corner of section 22, township 17, range 89. When the township was first organized and populated some of its most prominent settlers were believers of the Hardshell Baptist faith. These pioneers worshipped regularly at the home of Stephen Harlan, and in the log barn of Moses McCray, until the erection of the first log school house in 1834 (where the McCray cemetery now stands.) This building was used for church purposes as well as for school.
On October 29, 1838, the Baptist brethren met at the home of Stephen Harlan and organized the Concord Baptist church, with the following charter members: Stephen Harland and Polly, his wife, Moses McCray and Jane, his wife, Hiram Harlan and wife, Morgan McQuery and wife, William Sparks, Jane Ross (Reeves), Jane Wilkinson, Chanty Wilson, Jacob Parkhurst. Morgan McQuery was chosen moderator and Jacob Parkhurst, clerk. They proceeded at once to erect a log church. The logs were donated by Stephen Harlan and Moses McCray, and the church was erected on a little knoll in the southwest corner of the present cemetery boundaries.
In 1855 the old log church was abandoned and a frame building, thirty-four by thirty-six feet, was erected, a little north and east of the old church site, and was dedicated in 1856 by Elder John Sparks, of Connersville.
The families of Cooks, Nolands, Abram Nibargers, Jacob B. Hamilton, Johnsons, Wrights, Isaac Hamilton, and many others had been added to the list of church members and the church flourished for twenty years thereafter. Jacob B. Hamilton, Cicero Wilkinson and William Wright were it first trustees, and John and William Sparks, of Connersville, were its first pastors. These brothers were also brothers of Polly Harlan and Jane McCray (charter members). They were highly educated Baptist ministers and possessed of much earthly goods. They were great powers in the upbuilding of this church, making the trip from their homes one or twice each month on horse back. Other ministers who labored for the church after its reorganization in 1855 were John F. Johnson, Daniel Cunningham, James F. Collier, Thomas Smith, Matthew Harlan, Samuel D. Harlan, Thomas S. Lyons, William Buckles and S. David Harlan. S. David Harlan was the last person ordained to preach in this church. This ordination occurred more than thirty years ago and was very beautiful and impressive. Very few of the pastors received pay for their services, and all but three were from Fayette and Rush counties. Nearly all of the early members of this church were originally members of the White Water association of Connersville, consequently this association often held its yearly meetings here.
Early in the seventies a Missionary Baptist church, known as the Collier church, was erected five miles north of Concord church and a great part of the Concord member ship united with the Collier organization. The older members were passing to their reward and within the space of ten years of about 1885, the church membership dropped from one hundred and twenty-five to less than forty, since which time the membership has gradually decreased until there are but two surviving members, Lealden Johnson, of Shirley, and Mrs. Sarah Cook, of Wilkinson, one of the pioneer members, who is now in her eighty-fifty year.
The silent "city of the dead," which surrounds this old church, was laid off in 1855 and many people who labored for the welfare of church and community in Brown township's early history slumber in its bosom. Caroline Mays, wife of John Mays, one of the very early pioneers, was the first person laid to rest in the original plot; the present boundaries have been extended to include the grave of a little child who froze to death on Sugar creek in 1832.
Some twenty years ago the church was remodeled by public subscription and has since been kept as a community building for any sort of public worship or endeavor. Though Baptist services are no longer held beneath its kindly shelter, its pioneer memories linger dear in the hearts of Brown township's people. The first trustees elected by the public to care for church and cemetery were Joseph McDaniel, William Chew, and Robert Collins, who served in this capacity for many years. The present trustees are Joseph McDaniel, Allen Nibarger and Guy McCullough.
- Copied from a county history.
MT. CARMEL (FORTVILLE)(1837)
This church was erected in 1863 at the southwest corner of the southeast quarter of section 11, township 17, range 7. The congregation had been organized many years previous. As early as 1837 meetings were held at the home of James Denny and others of the thirteen members who composed the early congregation. Later, services were conducted in a little log church that stood immediately north of Fortville. Among the early pastors were Thomas Jenkins, Morgan McQuery and J. F. Johnson. A later pastor, David Caudell, was for many years one of the best known men in the county. A short address of his is given as a part of the history of the early settlers' meetings.In 1887 the Baptist church throughout Indiana and Kentucky divided on the question of predestination. This question also divided the Mt. Carmel congregation, and as a result of the division another church was erected on the Greenfield and Fortville pike at the south edge of Fortville. Among the members of this congregation are the Cushmans, Mrs. Bolander, William Denny and wife, Henry Shore and wife, Mr. Jeffries and others. The wing of the church that still worships east of Fortville subscribes to the theory of the absolute predestination of all things from time eternal; the branch worshipping at the church south of Fortville does not take this view of the question. Each of the congregations has a membership of probably twenty or twenty-five. The church south of Fortville was constructed in 1903. Before the construction of the new church the members worshipped at the school house just across the road from the old Mr. Carmel church, and at the home of Mrs. Cushman. Mt. Carmel Church, in Fortville, was a member of the Lebanon Association. (Information taken from a county history.)
SURNAMES OF MEMBERS:
Alba, Blackburn, Bolander, Brinkley, Carter, Coombs, Cushman, Denny, Gillam, Harbett, Hopper, Jackson, Keaster, King, Leonard, Lowery, McGinnis, Moon, Shepard, Shore, Spencer, Swartz, Thacker, Thompson, Warner, Yates (very incomplete list).
Go Back to the Primitive Baptist Library Page
Go Back to the Family History Assistance Page
Copyright c. 2001-2026. All Rights Reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
